SSI Will No Longer Consider Food in In-Kind Support and Maintenance (ISM) Calculations

When SSI beneficiaries receive assistance in the form of In-Kind Support and Maintenance (ISM), their benefit payments are reduced by either the actual value of the ISM or one-third of the maximum SSI payment plus $20. Effective September 30, 2024, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) will no longer include food in its calculation of In-Kind Support and Maintenance (ISM). This means SSI will no longer consider informal food assistance received by the SSI beneficiary as income to the beneficiary that may reduce the amount of the SSI benefit payment. SSI will still consider assistance provided to the SSI beneficiary for shelter expenses as ISM, though. Shelter expenses include room, rent, mortgage payments, real property taxes, heating, fuel, gas (for a home, not a vehicle), electricity, water, sewer, and garbage services.

However, SSI will still ask about food assistance to determine whether to use the Value of the One-Third Reduction (VTR) rule or the Presumed Maximum Value (PMV) rule in cases in which the SSI beneficiary receives ISM in the form of shelter. The VTR rule values ISM at one-third of the maximum SSI payment (in 2024, $314.33 for an individual and $471.66 for a married couple who are both SSI beneficiaries). The PMV rule values ISM at the lesser of the VTR amount or the actual value of the ISM received.

Under the new rules, SSI will apply the VTR rule when all of the following apply:

1. The SSI beneficiary lives in another person's household through a calendar month; AND
2. The SSI beneficiary receives shelter ISM from others living in the household; AND
3. Others within the household pay for or provide all the SSI beneficiary's meals.

Under the new rules, SSI will apply the PMV rule when the SSI beneficiary:

• Lives in someone else's household and receives shelter ISM from others in the household, but others in the household do not provide the SSI beneficiary with all of their meals; OR
• Lives in their own household, but someone helps with their shelter expenses; OR
• Lives in a non-medical institution as described in 20 C.F.R. Section 416.1141(c).

This is a small step, but one that may have a very large positive impact on SSI beneficiaries because now their families, friends, and communities can buy them food without causing them to lose part of their benefit payments, which are already critically insufficient as it is. Now if only they would increase the resource limits, which haven't been changed since 1989...